Brett Sova is driving down the Chicago Highway on a late March Thursday evening to band practice. Stuck in traffic, he tries to keep his eyes on the road while speaking on his band’s upcoming show in New York City at Palisades in Brooklyn tonight.
Axis:Sova, a psychedelic indie band from Chicago, recently released their second album, Early Surf in February. Originally, Axis: Sova was a solo project he created where he released his first album, Weight of a Color. This time, Sova mentions that the record is much more aggressive than the last.
“It was less about recording songs that are pre composed and more about taking those spontaneous jams and the amazing energy that comes from that spontaneity and trying to build song structure around them,” he said.
The tone of tracks on Early Surf ties in on the overall theme of a separation of communication among humans.
“I find myself writing a lot of things about that are sort of speaking as though we’re all in some sort of outer space realm and we’re isolated from each other and we might as well be that far away from each other as much as we are sitting right next to each other,” he said.
Because of the structure of the tracks on Early Surf, he found it impossible to play the tracks live by himself. In September 2014, Sova decided that having a band playing alongside with him would be best. Axis:Sova is now a three piece which includes touring members Tim Kaiser (guitar) and Tyson Tortensen (bass).
“I have been talking to some friends and they were open with the idea of playing it and it’s worked out really well,” he said, on looking for members to play the material. “Music is so much about communication and collaboration and shared experience that eventually it seemed sort of inevitable that I would want to return to playing with a band, playing with a group of people.”
Sova, originally from Columbus, Ohio, was previously involved in several bands including Nat Shiver and Chandliers, a Chicago based band before deciding to pursue Axis:Sova. The band kicked off their latest tour on March 31 in Kentucky.
